On December 2nd, 2020, VNU University of Economics and Business, Thuong Mai University and Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) co-hosted an international conference titled “International trade and investment facilitation in the context of global upheaval.”

This event was a part of the regular series of conferences on the International Economic Cooperation and Integration (CIECI) annually organized since 2013 by Vietnam’s research teams on international economic integration of VNU University of Economics and Business.

This large-scale conference also received attention from the media and many news agencies.

According to Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Anh Thu - Vice Rector of the University of Economics and Business, trade, and investment facilitation not only helped reduce costs related to the transaction, trade or investment, but it also took advantage of the most incentives from globalization and distribution of resources. “Global trade is facing many challenges including the emergence of protectionism and trade war... However, with confidence and optimism about the inevitable trend of globalization, Vietnam consistently upholds the benefits of free trade and is well aware of opportunities for integration with the main flow of peace, cooperation and globalization.” said Vice Rector Anh Thu.

Despite the return of protectionism, a barrier to globalization, according to Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Anh Thu, trade liberalization will be a general trend in the long term, excluding some certain short-term barriers.

Vice Rector Anh Thu also emphasized on the pandemic Covid-19 that was having a big influence on the global economy. Most countries had negative growth in the third quarter of 2020, which was the most visible impact to recognize.

Further studies showed that Covid-19 even had impacts on the global value chain that caused supply chains to break. Regarding the labor side, the labor supply for factories was affected. Besides, it harmed the international shipping of goods, which has a considerable impact on raw materials as well as output.

There should be appropriate measurements to address problems related to economic integration and fluctuations of the world economy, Vietnam’s international economic integration process and the impacts of international economic integration, especially the next-generation FTAs (CPTPP, EVFTA) of Vietnam, etc. According to Christopher Jeffery, President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, developing new energy sources would contribute greatly to the economic recovery, economic development, and human resources improvement.

In the seventh year of this conference series, CIECI 2020 put emphasis on issues of economic integration and recent turbulence of the world economy (i.e. Covid-19, China-US Trade War), the process and highlights of Vietnam’s international economic integration, impacts of economic integration, especially new-generation free trade agreements FTAs (i.e. CPTPP, EVFTA), Vietnam’s trade and investment, Vietnam’s trade and investment facilitation in the context of global fluctuations, results of implementing policies to have a quick rebound and achieve sustainable economy from global fluctuations.